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Bamberger's
Bamberger's was a department store chain with locations primarily in New Jersey, also with locations in the states of Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. The chain was headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. History 1892 - 1912 Felix Fuld, Louis M. Frank , and Louis Bamberger founded the store on December 13, 1892 on Market Street on the corner of Halsey Street (Newark) in Newark, New Jersey, taking over the location of a bankrupt store Hill & Craig. Fuld and Frank were Bambeger's brothers-in-law. 1912 - 1929 On October 16, 1912 the company opened its flagship store, designed by Jarvis Hunt, at 131 Market Street.The historic Bamberger's flagship store at 131 Market Street in downtown Newark once ranked among the nation's largest - after an expansion in 1929 it was the nation's sixth largest department store. The massive building covered an entire city block, bounded by Market, Washington, Bank and Halsey Streets - 1.2 million square feet. The phone exchange, 565 was devoted solely to Bamberger's5 with local direct-dial numbers for most of New Jersey's suburbs for telephone orders, known as "TeleService"61. The building's loading dock was located well below ground on the fourth-basement level7. Two massive elevators carried fully loaded 33 ft trucks from Washington Street down to the loading docks7. The store had over 200 departments over 9 floors, and 2 basement floors1. There was a restaurant on the 10th floor1. The layout of the store changed over time but one layout of floor departments can be seen here. Bamberger's had its own Newark Public Library branch and US Post Office branch. It sold customized linens, engraved jewelry, furs and other speciality items. 1929-1959 In June 1929 Bamberger's was purchased by R.H. Macy Co. but the name remained Bamberger's. In the years immediately following World War II, the store was reorganized to become more "mainstream". In 1955, the tenth-floor restaurant complex was leased to the private Downtown Club. Dining service for customers continued at The Dinette, a counter style room on the first basement level and snack bars on the first and fourth floors. Eventually the lower-level eatery was remodeled into a formal restaurant named the Garden State Tea Room. 1960-1986 The 1960s and 1970s saw expansion throughout the state of New Jersey and into the Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area, and by the 1980s there were branches opened in the Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan area. On October 5, 1986, the Bamberger's stores adopted the name Macy's New Jersey, and in 1988 Macy's New Jersey was consolidated with sister division Macy's New York to form Macy's Northeast (now Macy's, Inc.). As northern New Jersey's population grew Bamberger's followed the suburban population aggressively. Suburban branch stores of L. Bamberger & Co. were built in other New Jersey locations: downtown Morristown, Plainfield, and at Princeton, New Jersey9. According to Greg Hatala, for nj.com, "With the post-World War II population shift towards the suburbs of major cities, Bamberger's built additional stores in locations such as East Brunswick, Westfield Garden State Plaza, Monmouth Mall, Nanuet Mall, and Menlo Park Mall. In 1970, the East Brunswick location became an anchor store for the Brunswick Square Mall. Sales volume at the downtown Newark store was affected by the Newark race riots of 1967 -- sales space was decreased and Newark became a "value oriented" store1. Evening hours were eliminated downtown by 197911. 1986-Today In 1986, all Bamberger's stores were renamed Macy's, and the Newark store operated as Macy's until it was closed in 199212. Today the building serves the telecommunication, colocation, and computer support industries. Category:Defunct department stores Category:Defunct retailers Category:Defunct Mall Retailers Category:Federated Department Company Stores Category:Defunct